Regione Autonoma della Sardegna

Agenzia Regionale per il Lavoro (Italy)

1-        Could you rapidly present you Training Institute/Region?

The Regional Employment Agency is the technical body of the Region Sardinia (Italy) which provides the local government with the technical assistance for monitoring labour policies, and for supporting the functions of the Region and provinces, when they play the role of institutional subjects of the public employment service system; it also cooperates to achieve the integration among the employment services and policies, manages the information and databases on employment; monitors mobility at all level; acts as regional observatory of the labour market, through statistical activities, documentation, research and study on labour issues.

Given the increasing role Sardinia is playing within the EU programmes, the Agency is focussing its efforts on establishing and consolidating networks and partnerships, promoting active collaboration and international cooperation in order to participate in project activities in Europe with the aim of enhancing the experience gained and implement innovative initiatives on employment.

Recently, the Region Sardinia, as part of a wider ESF founded strategies, has promoted an higher educational Programme named Master and Back which aims at granting scholarships and covering expenses of your graduates for attending masters, Phd programmes and specialization courses organised in the 50th top ranked Universities.

2-        Which are your experiences in the field of restructuring?

Even though the Regional Employment Agency is not formally charged of planning and writing directly strategic measures and interventions in the mentioned subject (it supports the political decisions which are taken independently by the local Government), in the recent past it has been involved in the management of the Master and Back Programme.

It is an higher educational programme, a real milestone of the local strategy the Region has planned to stimulate the cultural and professional growth of Sardinian young students and workers.

Then, the local Government interpreted and gave the human capital the maximum importance for combating increasing unemployment rates, trying to transform the region in a real competitive and knowledge based economy.

The decision was taken both for meeting the request made by the labour market and to anticipate the future and potential negative effects the economic and industrial crisis.

3-        Which are your expectations for the project: Going Local?

Experiences matured in the recent past suggest that it is necessary, as it is underlined in the project strategy and methodology, to achieve the integration between systems and measures, to produce synergies and interaction between different actions (training services, guidance, mediation, adult education and skills development), to create a strong link between needs and solutions.

One strong negative characteristic of most measures taken during the last period, is represented by the whole lack of interactions between actors who decide measures and policies and the real needs the market is showing.

Going local, by suggesting the creation of networks and communities, and emphasizing the role of a participated method, seems to suggest the path for the future.